Weaving operation on circular looms



Patented July 9, 1940 PATENT OFFICE WEAVING OPERATION N CIRCULAR LOOMS Albert Thompson, Spondon;near Derby, England, 'assignor -to-Celanese Corporation of America, a Y corporation .of Delaware Application June 22, 1937,'Serial No.149,652 In Great Britain :July 14;, 1936 6 Claims. (01. 139 -13) This invention relates to weaving operations on circular looms of the type in which the shuttles 'are provided with bases adapted tobeat up the weft into the fell of the fabric.

According to the invention, weaving is effected "in a multi-shuttle circular loom by inserting weft from shuttles 'having'bases disposed at different "distances from the fell of the fabric, so as to produce a fabric having variable pick density. .Theoperation may be carried out with all the shuttles inserting weftcftsubstantially the same denier orpcoun't, so that theresult of the varying degree of beat :up resulting from the different positioning of the shuttle bases is shown-in the :fabric simply-by the change in pick density. The

The shuttles may'lay'weft of different character and particular wefts of different count or denier. Thus, forexample, a large space left for one pick may be more or less filled by having that pick of heavy count or denier, or on the other handa heavy pick may be crowded into a small space, e. g. the same space as is allowed for a lighter pick in some other part of the fabric. Again, the fabric may contain a combination of stripes in some of which wide spacing and low count produces a sparseness, while in others due to heavier count, with or without finer spacing, a crowded effect occurs.

Fancy wefts containing loops, knops, and so forth may also be inserted by some or all of the shuttles, and in some cases may, by acting in conjunction with stripes containing low denier picks or stripes having low pick density, produce a cockle effect in the fabric. Crepe yarns may also be used as weft alone or in conjunction with plain and/or fancy wefts in any desired sequence.

Further contrasting effectsmay be obtained by the use of coloured wefts, wefts of different "lustre or material (e. g. continuous filament yarns and fibrous yarns), and so on. Such additional contrasts may coincide with and/or alternate with the contrasts produced by the variable pick density and/ or differences in weft count or denier.

The different degree of beat-up between shuttle and shuttle may be effected by the use of shuttles having bodies positively positioned within the sheds and having bases extending nearer to or "farther from the "fell of the fabric accord ing 'as the beat-up pressure is to be greater or less. advantage the-shuttles may be provided'with bases adjustable in distance fromthe shuttle bodies so that any particular shuttle may Z5 be regulated to giveany desired degree of beat- If desired, the effect obtained as described above by having theshuttle bases at different distances from the fell of the fabric maybe enhanced or modified by varying the rateof takeup of thefabric, so as'to produceweft-wise bands of relatively greater or less pick density at regular or irregular intervals and appearing either regularly with each or any complete weavingrevolution of the loom or with any other fre- 'quenc'y, as,for'example, by 'over-driving'the takeup gear intermittently under the control of a pattern chain.

[Themetho'd of weaving according to the mven- 5:20

tion-wil1 now be described in greater detail with referenceto the accompanying drawing and in connection witha ,circular loom in which the "shuttles rotate about the loom axisandthe wa p remain stationary,

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic development of the arrangement of the shuttles in a shuttle circular loom; and

Figures 2, 3 and 4 show examples of pattern effects woven by the method according to the invention, the spacing of the threads being exaggerated for the sake of clarity.

Referring to Figure 1, the shuttles, numbered consecutively I-IO, are positively positioned in a vertical direction round the circumference of the loom represented by the distance between the dot-and-dash lines A and B. The warp threads H are disposed round the loom in the form of a cylinder and each shuttle lays its weft 12 in the warp shed formed by separating the warp threads II by shading mechanism (not shown). Shedding takes place immediately after the passing of each shuttle in preparation for the passing of the next shuttle so that each revolution of each shuttle makes one pick, and in a 10 shuttle loom, as shown in Figure 1, each weaving revolution represents 10 picks, so that the pattern woven is repeated every 10 picks. The distance between the fell l3 of the fabric and the base of each shuttle is determined by the spacing of the weft required to give the desired pattern.

The shuttles are shown in the positions that they take up when a fabric is being woven according to the pattern shown in Figure 2. In this arrangement the shuttles 1, 2 and 3 each lay a weft of heavy count and shuttles 4-10 each lay a weft of fine count, the resulting fabric exhibiting a striped effect, the stripes consisting alternately of a group a of 3 openly spaced heavy yarns, and a group b of 7 closely spaced fine yarns, the groups a and I) being repeated every 10 picks. The bases of shuttles l, 2 and 3 each laying a heavy weft are disposed at a distance from the fell of the fabric greater than that of the bases of shuttles 4-H) each laying a fine weft, this difference in level being indicated at l6.

During weaving, the shuttles rotate about the loom axis in a horizontal plane, but since the finished fabric is being continually drawn in a vertically downward direction by take-up rollers (not shown) the weft threads I21 are laid over a continuous helical path as represented by the inclined weft threads in the finished portion of the fabric shown in Figure 1. The inclination of the weft, and also the weft-spacing in relation to the size of the shuttles, are grossly exaggerated for the sake of clarity. Since each shuttle itself lays a complete helix, the result of a weaving revolution is a multiple helix having a lead equal to the distance covered by 10 picks and a pitch which is determined by the spacing of the weft required to produce the desiredefiect. Thus the spacing of the weft is produced according to the height at which each particular shuttle is set in relation to the fell 13 of the fabric, and the complete pattern is repeated for each weaving revolution, the shuttle I being shown in dotted lines, as about to commence the next repeat.

By varying the setting of the individual shuttles and the count of the yarn laid thereby, a very large number of different designs may be Woven, further typical examples being shown in Figures 3 and 4. Figure 3 shows a further striped effect woven on a 10 shuttle loom, the stripes consisting of a group of 2 heavy yarns, a group d of 4 closely spaced fine yarns, 1 heavy yarn e and a group of 3 closely spaced fine yarns, the groups 0, d, e and I being repeated in this order for each weaving revolution.

By spacing some of the wefts at a distance apart much greater than others and at the same time introducing wefts of fancy yarn with the closely spaced wefts, a modified form of striped pattern is produced which presents an open effect. A fabric of this nature woven on a 12 shuttle loom is illustrated in Figure 4, in which the weft threads are inserted in the following order, 1 fancy yarn of heavy count 9, a group'h of 4 closely spaced fine yarns, a group i of 2 openly spaced fine yarns and a group 7' of closely spaced fine yarns, the groups g, h, i and a being repeated every 12 picks.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Method of weaving in a multi-shuttle circular loom, comprising inserting weft from a plurality of shuttles having bases disposed at different distances from the fell of the fabric, so as to produce a single fabric having varying pick density.

2. Method according to claim 1 wherein the weft thread laid by at least one shuttle is of different character from that laid by the remaining shuttles.

3. Method according to claim 1 wherein the weft thread laid by at least one shuttle has a count different from that laid by the remaining shuttles.

4. Method of weaving in a multi-shuttle cir-- cular loom, comprising inserting weft from a plurality of shuttles having bases disposed at different distances from the fell of the fabric and varying the rate of take-up of the fabric, so as to produce a single fabric having varying pick density.

5. Method according to claim 4 wherein the 

